to help us to understand and deconstruct capitalism in order to create a sustainable and peaceful social system.

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Media as watchdogs of American hegemony

After examining his resume in various government functions, I thought he could not really deliver on what he promised in this introductory post. After a lengthy reading of his full article, I was rather impressed with how far he went to provide an understanding of the existing power structure in the US, but I also concluded that he stopped safely short of examining any unifying ideology or class structure.

This article can be considered as an introduction to his longer article "How American Media Serves as a Transmission Belt for Wars of Choice" which I read. In the latter article there was no mention of capitalism or capitalists in the article, and no class structure. The closest he came was his brief designation of an "investor class" at the end of page 35 (PDF). In his section entitled "A note on the role of ideology" there was none to describe the ideology of the US governing deep state. And my final criticism is that he at one point suggests that the only path to bring about change in this deteriorating governing structure is to work within the two party system--even though they have been thoroughly captured by the capitalist ruling class!

...the only path for even marginal change is an insurgency within one of the two established parties. As it happens, in 2016 there was rebellion in both parties. This is not coincidental. The failures of the two-party consensus are evident in voter fury directed against Republicans and Democrats alike....

Still, in spite of its limitations, I regard the article as a very good read.